MOORPARK : Council to Consider Quarry Expansion

The Moorpark City Council will consider Wednesday whether to ask the county to severely curtail the expansion plans of a quarry north of the city.

Blue Star Quarry, at 9035 Happy Camp Road, wants to expand its gravel-mining operation by 249 acres. In addition, the company, which also processes the gravel into concrete, wants to add an asphalt-mixing plant.

Moorpark’s Planning Department is advising the City Council to recommend that the quarry expansion be limited to 22 acres because of concerns over noise, traffic and aesthetics.

Because Blue Star is outside city limits, Moorpark’s City Council can only make a recommendation on the expansion proposal to the county, which will decide the matter.

One of the Planning Department’s main concerns is noise, according to a staff report. Blue Star trucks, which make more than 1,000 trips a day, would make about 1,500 with the proposed expansion. The noise generated by the trucks in the city already exceeds federal limits and would increase, an environmental report states.

The county’s decision on the proposed expansion hinges on a report prepared by a private consultant detailing how the project would affect the environment. Both the company, which paid for the report, and Moorpark’s Planning Department think the report is incomplete, according to Blue Star’s attorney and a Planning Department spokeswoman. The company’s attorney, Mitchell Kahn, said he is concerned that the city may come out against the full expansion proposal before the report can be revised to address its concerns.

The county’s Environmental Report Review Committee will hold a public hearing on the project on July 31.